MOVIE OF THE WEEK #2 (5/10/13) THE GREAT GATSBY
KEY CAST MEMBERS: Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Macguire, Joel Edgerton, Elizabeth Debicki, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke and Amitabh Bachchan
WRITER(S): Baz Luhrman & Craig Pearce (screenplay); F. Scott Fitzgerald (original novel)
DIRECTOR: Baz Luhrman
WEB SITE: http://thegreatgatsby.warnerbros.com/
THE PLOT: A 3D(!) retelling of F. Scott Fitzgerald's most celebrated literary work, The Great Gatsby begins by introducing us to Nick Carraway (Tobey Macguire), a young man still shaken from recent events during his time in New York City in the early 1920s. Nick was just a young Wall Street worker when he first moved to the Big Apple, which is also the place where his cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan) now happens to live.
A young debutante in Louisville in her younger days, Daisy is now the wife of Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton), a former star polo player at Yale turned rich businessman. But while Tom seemingly has it all in his life, he also has Myrtle (Isla Fisher), his mistress on the side whose mechanic husband George (Jason Clarke) might not be as unsuspecting as he looks ...
But the more Nick hangs out with Daisy and her golfing phenom best friend Jordan Baker (newcomer Elizabeth Debicki), he keeps hearing one name over and over again: "Gatsby" – who, as it turns out, is his neighbor living in the mansion next to his home where weekends are filled with parties that are the very definition of "The Roaring Twenties" comes to life. And the more he hears – he killed a man, he single handedly won battles in World War I, etc. – the more he comes intrigued ... Especially since he's noticed the figure peering down at him from his lavish home.
And once Nick receives an invite to one of his lavish affairs, he gets to meet the man himself – and Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) quickly takes him under his wing. But what is the real reason for Gatsby's interest in Nick? It might just have something to do with an old, old flame that has never been extinguished in Gatsby's long-burning heart ...
But in chasing the American Dream as Nick does, he may soon come to learn that certain dreams can have nightmarish consequences along the way.
A young debutante in Louisville in her younger days, Daisy is now the wife of Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton), a former star polo player at Yale turned rich businessman. But while Tom seemingly has it all in his life, he also has Myrtle (Isla Fisher), his mistress on the side whose mechanic husband George (Jason Clarke) might not be as unsuspecting as he looks ...
But the more Nick hangs out with Daisy and her golfing phenom best friend Jordan Baker (newcomer Elizabeth Debicki), he keeps hearing one name over and over again: "Gatsby" – who, as it turns out, is his neighbor living in the mansion next to his home where weekends are filled with parties that are the very definition of "The Roaring Twenties" comes to life. And the more he hears – he killed a man, he single handedly won battles in World War I, etc. – the more he comes intrigued ... Especially since he's noticed the figure peering down at him from his lavish home.
And once Nick receives an invite to one of his lavish affairs, he gets to meet the man himself – and Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) quickly takes him under his wing. But what is the real reason for Gatsby's interest in Nick? It might just have something to do with an old, old flame that has never been extinguished in Gatsby's long-burning heart ...
But in chasing the American Dream as Nick does, he may soon come to learn that certain dreams can have nightmarish consequences along the way.
THE TAKE: In examining co-writer/director Baz Luhrman's newest telling of The Great Gatsby, I had a thought of cheesecake. Yes, cheesecake – The Cheesecake Factory, in particular.
As anyone who has been to the home of delicious, potentially artery clogging desserts can tell you, one slice of any of the company's wonderful signature desserts (or cakes or ice cream) is an experience of decadent indulgence that most people reserve for a special occasion. And, as the majority if not all of those people would also tell you, while one slice is a great experience, trying to consume an entire pie by one's self is an exercise in grandiose overstatement of one's appetite that could also prove fatal.
And I say all that to say this: While The Great Gatsby isn't akin to eating an entire cheesecake, it does come dangerously close too often – which may ruin any celluloid sweet tooth the average viewer watching it may have.
In attempting to showcase the opulence, excess and general free-spirited nature of 1922 as it exists in Gatsby's world, Luhrman more often than not overdoses in it behind the lens to a grandiose level – throughout the first hour. For the first hour seems to be an attempt to make Gatsby hip by using modern hip techniques, which in turn makes the film play out more like Rock of Ages than a intriguing drama. Instead of showcasing the raging nature of the times, the first hour feels more like a director determined for better or worse – to put his own signature touch on a familiar story to make it new.
But Gatsby feels way too forced for its own good ... Throughout the first hour. It's like taking a Broadway production and then putting into an Improv/vaudeville context. Be it the over-the-top, extended party sequences that feel more showy than seductive, the ill-fitting inclusion of Jay-Z song after Jay-Z song (I love Jay-Z as much as the next quality hip-hop fan, but save for "No Church in the Wild" with Kanye West, the modern soundtrack doesn't work) or the going through the motions acting of the first act, Gatsby feels like it's trying to be too much while doing too much. Even the abuse of the "old sport" catch phrase is sure to sound like nails on a chalkboard after repeated utterances ad nauseam. Even the 3D, which does work ok for the most part, feels like a bit much as it doesn't enhance the film as much as it does the director's attempt to make it seem like it enhances it. (I hate to pick on Luhrman so much, but his first act feels like a music video with acting thrown it in between songs and dance numbers.)
Fortunately, the the second act salvages things somewhat by getting back to basics once DiCaprio takes center stage in the film's second act, playing Gatsby as a man compulsively driven by his desire to achieve the destiny he is convinced he must achieve. Once things become more streamlined and focused, then the film starts to come together. Then again, there are points of the story where that drive almost borders on coming off cartoonish on a Looney Tunes level in an attempt to show how the thing that makes Gatsby successful is also his greatest weakness. Debicki and Edgerton deliver the best performances in the film, but against the leads, they get lost in the shuffle of a film that might be the best way to tell your significant other "We need to talk" without exactly saying it.
All in all, The Great Gatsby isn't terrible, but it definitely isn't as great as its namesake would want it to be.
As anyone who has been to the home of delicious, potentially artery clogging desserts can tell you, one slice of any of the company's wonderful signature desserts (or cakes or ice cream) is an experience of decadent indulgence that most people reserve for a special occasion. And, as the majority if not all of those people would also tell you, while one slice is a great experience, trying to consume an entire pie by one's self is an exercise in grandiose overstatement of one's appetite that could also prove fatal.
And I say all that to say this: While The Great Gatsby isn't akin to eating an entire cheesecake, it does come dangerously close too often – which may ruin any celluloid sweet tooth the average viewer watching it may have.
In attempting to showcase the opulence, excess and general free-spirited nature of 1922 as it exists in Gatsby's world, Luhrman more often than not overdoses in it behind the lens to a grandiose level – throughout the first hour. For the first hour seems to be an attempt to make Gatsby hip by using modern hip techniques, which in turn makes the film play out more like Rock of Ages than a intriguing drama. Instead of showcasing the raging nature of the times, the first hour feels more like a director determined for better or worse – to put his own signature touch on a familiar story to make it new.
But Gatsby feels way too forced for its own good ... Throughout the first hour. It's like taking a Broadway production and then putting into an Improv/vaudeville context. Be it the over-the-top, extended party sequences that feel more showy than seductive, the ill-fitting inclusion of Jay-Z song after Jay-Z song (I love Jay-Z as much as the next quality hip-hop fan, but save for "No Church in the Wild" with Kanye West, the modern soundtrack doesn't work) or the going through the motions acting of the first act, Gatsby feels like it's trying to be too much while doing too much. Even the abuse of the "old sport" catch phrase is sure to sound like nails on a chalkboard after repeated utterances ad nauseam. Even the 3D, which does work ok for the most part, feels like a bit much as it doesn't enhance the film as much as it does the director's attempt to make it seem like it enhances it. (I hate to pick on Luhrman so much, but his first act feels like a music video with acting thrown it in between songs and dance numbers.)
Fortunately, the the second act salvages things somewhat by getting back to basics once DiCaprio takes center stage in the film's second act, playing Gatsby as a man compulsively driven by his desire to achieve the destiny he is convinced he must achieve. Once things become more streamlined and focused, then the film starts to come together. Then again, there are points of the story where that drive almost borders on coming off cartoonish on a Looney Tunes level in an attempt to show how the thing that makes Gatsby successful is also his greatest weakness. Debicki and Edgerton deliver the best performances in the film, but against the leads, they get lost in the shuffle of a film that might be the best way to tell your significant other "We need to talk" without exactly saying it.
All in all, The Great Gatsby isn't terrible, but it definitely isn't as great as its namesake would want it to be.
PARTING SHOT: Much like its title subject, Luhrman's vision of The Great Gatsby aspires to do great things and achieve a new height of a cinematic experience ... Only to see itself falter upon its own lofty ambitions and never reach the heights to which it aspires.
RATING (OUT OF FOUR BUCKETS OF POPCORN):
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